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The Saint #26
The Saint Sees It Through
The Saint, who sometimes travels under the name of Simon Templar, collides with the weirdest group of sinister characters he's ever met, including a mysterious European psychiatrist, a monstrous glandular fread, and a peculiar lady poet. Something sinister linked them all together, and the Saint had to find out what it was. The Key might be the suave shrink. Then again, it might be Avalon Dexter, the sexy singer with the sincere smile....and a gift for getting Simon Templar tangles up in the murderous riddle.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1946
28 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Charteris
585 books161 followersBorn Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, Leslie Charteris was a half-Chinese, half English author of primarily mystery fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint."
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 29, 2024
Unlike other fictional characters that have appeared in film and TV shows, such as James Bond and Hercule Poirot, I haven’t seen Simon Templar (aka The Saint) on screen and I knew next to nothing about him, except that second-hand books featuring him seem to fetch higher prices than other books of a similar age. So when I saw a Simon Templar book for $2 in my local charity shop I bought and read it to see what I had been missing.
The Saint Sees It Through is the 26th story featuring The Saint. It is a standalone novel set in post-WW II New York (and written in 1946). The Saint is introduced on page 3 as “the Robin Hood of modern crime”. However, what he is trying to do in New York is unclear for the first 30% of the book. During this Leslie Charteris introduces us to a set of characters centred around a nightclub called Cookie’s Cellar painting opinionated word pictures of them, their doings and their surroundings. He goes about this with a supercilious sense of humour and a vocabulary that might have you reaching for your dictionary occasionally (unless words like “cuspidor” and “peripalpebral ecchymosis” convey their meaning to you without a break in concentration). Despite that, it is a fast read. The exposition is brief and blends in with the action. There is nothing complex about the plot.
As I read the book I felt that The Saint was more of an inspiration for the Sean Connery and Roger Moore portrayals of James Bond than Ian Fleming’s written version was. He is cool, suave, confident, well-educated, funny and very good-looking. The Saint is investigating something. Unlike many other detective stories, this isn’t a murder investigation. While solving the mystery is important to The Saint, it is less important to the reader. This is more of a thriller than a detective story. The Saint is involved in an escalating series of dangers that also threaten the people closest to him. The book also seems to have a didactic message relating to the unlying crime.
If this is representative of the series then I would be happy to read more of The Saint and his adventures.
The Saint Sees It Through is the 26th story featuring The Saint. It is a standalone novel set in post-WW II New York (and written in 1946). The Saint is introduced on page 3 as “the Robin Hood of modern crime”. However, what he is trying to do in New York is unclear for the first 30% of the book. During this Leslie Charteris introduces us to a set of characters centred around a nightclub called Cookie’s Cellar painting opinionated word pictures of them, their doings and their surroundings. He goes about this with a supercilious sense of humour and a vocabulary that might have you reaching for your dictionary occasionally (unless words like “cuspidor” and “peripalpebral ecchymosis” convey their meaning to you without a break in concentration). Despite that, it is a fast read. The exposition is brief and blends in with the action. There is nothing complex about the plot.
As I read the book I felt that The Saint was more of an inspiration for the Sean Connery and Roger Moore portrayals of James Bond than Ian Fleming’s written version was. He is cool, suave, confident, well-educated, funny and very good-looking. The Saint is investigating something. Unlike many other detective stories, this isn’t a murder investigation. While solving the mystery is important to The Saint, it is less important to the reader. This is more of a thriller than a detective story. The Saint is involved in an escalating series of dangers that also threaten the people closest to him. The book also seems to have a didactic message relating to the unlying crime.
If this is representative of the series then I would be happy to read more of The Saint and his adventures.
May 30, 2025
Desperation seems to have set in--not just for the Saint but Leslie Charteris as well. This is the shortest of all the books in the Saint series I've so far read. Fitting, I guess, because the publication history at the end notes that it is also the last full novel in the series that Charteris wrote singlehandedly. The remainder would be collaborations or "supervisory" editions. This doesn't include the novellas and short stories, which the history claims Charteris continued to write.
But, as I say, desperation is the word for what is going on, here. The beginning is untidy and Charteris (LC) seems determined to restore the glory of his earlier florid style. There are places it works. But the overall weakness of the story doesn't help: Simon, still a G-Man, is working on uncovering an international drug cartel operating out of Shanghai and ferrying dope back into the US. Although not stated, it is implied that postwar blackmarket profiteers and people with dubious, if not Nazi backgrounds, are in charge. They've even managed to infiltrate high society New Yorkers in the form of being ritzy on-demand psychoanalysts--a profession LC clearly does not approve of. LC also puts another rant in Simon's mouth, this one about the drug trade and the nasty sorts who engage in it.
Some good things along the way--and the end. Simon gets the guys and the gals and rubs out at least three of them. Among the more notorious members of the cartel is Cookie, described as a vulgar hippo of a woman who not only spreads drugs but also contributes a certain sort of vile jazz performance that is responsible for degraded and perverted sexuality. Oh, yes, Simon of course does make time for yet another love interest. They seem to be falling harder and harder for him as time goes on. But all in all, it seemed rushed.
But, as I say, desperation is the word for what is going on, here. The beginning is untidy and Charteris (LC) seems determined to restore the glory of his earlier florid style. There are places it works. But the overall weakness of the story doesn't help: Simon, still a G-Man, is working on uncovering an international drug cartel operating out of Shanghai and ferrying dope back into the US. Although not stated, it is implied that postwar blackmarket profiteers and people with dubious, if not Nazi backgrounds, are in charge. They've even managed to infiltrate high society New Yorkers in the form of being ritzy on-demand psychoanalysts--a profession LC clearly does not approve of. LC also puts another rant in Simon's mouth, this one about the drug trade and the nasty sorts who engage in it.
Some good things along the way--and the end. Simon gets the guys and the gals and rubs out at least three of them. Among the more notorious members of the cartel is Cookie, described as a vulgar hippo of a woman who not only spreads drugs but also contributes a certain sort of vile jazz performance that is responsible for degraded and perverted sexuality. Oh, yes, Simon of course does make time for yet another love interest. They seem to be falling harder and harder for him as time goes on. But all in all, it seemed rushed.
October 21, 2020
This book, from 1947, is the last full-length Saint novel written entirely by Charteris (i.e. not ghost-written with his approval); and it features its hero still in his reformed wartime rôle of rather eccentric G-man, on the trail of drug smugglers in New York.
Charteris’s story-telling and character-drawing abilities, with the characteristic flashes of humour, never entirely desert him. But compared with the prewar books, this is dull stuff.
There is one point of especial interest, nonetheless. The Saint says to the heroine:
“[T]his thing goes too far over the world, into too many countries and too many jurisdictions. Only an organisation that’s just as international can cope with it. There is such a thing, and I’m part of it. That’s all I’m allowed to say.”
But on the last page it’s clearly identified as UNCLE, over a decade before this supposedly fictional organisation was supposedly created for the TV series.
Charteris’s story-telling and character-drawing abilities, with the characteristic flashes of humour, never entirely desert him. But compared with the prewar books, this is dull stuff.
There is one point of especial interest, nonetheless. The Saint says to the heroine:
“[T]his thing goes too far over the world, into too many countries and too many jurisdictions. Only an organisation that’s just as international can cope with it. There is such a thing, and I’m part of it. That’s all I’m allowed to say.”
But on the last page it’s clearly identified as UNCLE, over a decade before this supposedly fictional organisation was supposedly created for the TV series.
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March 24, 2022Exciting
The story is fascinating. It grabs you right up to the end. And Mr Charteris has an extraordinary command of the English language. I don't need TV or movies to visualize each seen as it unfolds.
The story is fascinating. It grabs you right up to the end. And Mr Charteris has an extraordinary command of the English language. I don't need TV or movies to visualize each seen as it unfolds.
August 3, 2018
Some more fine writing from Charteris. Love and adventure. I'm sure he was ahead of his time.
November 26, 2020
I’m a big fan of Leslie’s Charteris’ Saint books and have many in my collection but haven’t yet got round to reading them all yet. I’ve just finished this one however and thoroughly enjoyed it. The adventure the Saint involved himself in this time was set in New York and he was working with a US government agent Hamilton to try and learn about and find out who was running a sophisticated drug smuggling operation into America from the Far East set up in post-war confusion.
Charteris has a prose style like no other. His sentences and phrases are sometimes a little over bearing but are sometimes beautifully constructed using imaginative and cleaver language. His knowledge of vocabulary is second to none and often leaves a poor uneducated reader like myself having to reach for the dictionary. This book, first published in 1947 is obviously very much of its time and for me that is part of its charm and it gives insights into values and attitudes and a glimpse of vintage life that can never be replicated by a modern historical novel.
If you like vintage adventure (possibly a niche only a few like), I would recommend The Saint books in general, of which this one is a fine example.
Charteris has a prose style like no other. His sentences and phrases are sometimes a little over bearing but are sometimes beautifully constructed using imaginative and cleaver language. His knowledge of vocabulary is second to none and often leaves a poor uneducated reader like myself having to reach for the dictionary. This book, first published in 1947 is obviously very much of its time and for me that is part of its charm and it gives insights into values and attitudes and a glimpse of vintage life that can never be replicated by a modern historical novel.
If you like vintage adventure (possibly a niche only a few like), I would recommend The Saint books in general, of which this one is a fine example.
November 16, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in May 2001.
This novel marks something of a change in the Saint saga. It is set in different circumstances, after the end of the war, and is more serious in tone than much of Charteris' writing. Simon Templar investigates the nightclub Cookie's Cellar in New York and its seedier dockside version, run by Cookie (a massively fat singer of bawdier songs) as, she says, a charitable gesture to the heroism of merchant sailors. There is far less banter than usual, and Simon gets himself involved in a serious relationship. This has happened before, notably in The Saint In New York, which is possibly the best novel in the entire series.
The Saint Sees It Through succeeds as a pure thriller, but lacks the humour and bravado which is one of the most treasurable characteristics of the series. It is not typical, but loses something by this.
This novel marks something of a change in the Saint saga. It is set in different circumstances, after the end of the war, and is more serious in tone than much of Charteris' writing. Simon Templar investigates the nightclub Cookie's Cellar in New York and its seedier dockside version, run by Cookie (a massively fat singer of bawdier songs) as, she says, a charitable gesture to the heroism of merchant sailors. There is far less banter than usual, and Simon gets himself involved in a serious relationship. This has happened before, notably in The Saint In New York, which is possibly the best novel in the entire series.
The Saint Sees It Through succeeds as a pure thriller, but lacks the humour and bravado which is one of the most treasurable characteristics of the series. It is not typical, but loses something by this.
April 26, 2014
Thoroughly enjoyed it ...
December 27, 2014
Very descriptive and a bit long winded.
April 18, 2017
It's the last of the Charteris penned novels, and I'm glad... from now on, it's all novellas and short stories, much better!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews